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LONDON – Art collectors were stunned on Friday night when a Banksy chart appeared to be self-destructing moments after its sale, at an auction, in an apparently orchestrated farce by the elusive street artist.
The bomb-lined "Girl With Balloon" slipped into a built-in shredder in the frame, emerging in bands as the final hammer signaled the end of the evening, according to Sotheby's international auction house. It sold $ 1.4 million, which is a record for the artist established in 2008.
Banksy posted an image of the auction house scene on his Instagram account with the caption "Going, go, gone …"
The photo seems to have been tweeted for the first time by an auction participant who said that an alarm was sounding just as the frame began to rip the canvas.
Banksy, who has never revealed his complete identity, began his career in spray painting in Bristol, England, and became one of the world's best-known artists.
Known for his controversial work, criticizing anti-migrant attitudes to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, he is not opposed to pranks either.
"It seems we just received Banksy-ed," said Alex Branczik, senior director and director of contemporary art at Sotheby's.
"He's arguably the greatest British street artist, and tonight we saw a little Banksy genius," he said immediately after the incident, according to The Art Newspaper. He added that he was "not involved in the trick".
It is unclear what will happen to the famous painting now that it has been turned into thin strips. "You could argue that work is now more valuable," Branczik said.
Sotheby's stated that it was the first time in the history of the auction that a work of art was tearing apart.
Happy Choppers, another Banksy painting, was sold the same day at auction at Sotheby's in New York. The unhurt work of art reported $ 735,000.
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